How Does Budweiser Make the All Metal Bottle?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_bottle

It really doesn't give much info but an overview is available

Thanks for the link, I had seen that before, but it gives no actual details on how they manufacture the 'bottles'....

Could it be that the neck is formed after the can is made by ... Noo....

I am an electronic engineer who is fascinated by how things are made.... I must know!!!!

I know you want the process for long necks, but here is a start:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2004/0173560.html

Milo

I thought they started with a deep draw (from slug) process to get a long cylindrical shape (~neck diameter), then finished with one or more high pressure hydraulic (water) steps to form the expanded body section. Links to a detailed process description do seem to be hard to locate at this time.

You will get more information from the wiki page on impact extrusion, and a search of impact extrusion will put up some pictures of the process.

Some details on the second process mentioned in the wiki on aluminum bottles, coil to can by Exal can be found here:

http://www.greenerpackage.com/database/converted_packages/exal_corporation/exals_coil_can_c2c_lightweight_aluminum_beverage_aluminum_beverage_bottles

But it isn't very helpful for understanding the actual process...

OK, I called the EXAL Corp. They produce the containers. The phone answerer suggested their website, but I can't get anything that works there. Maybe it's just my glacial work computer, I don't know.

I left a message with the engineering department, who knows, maybe they'll call back.

I'll let you know if they do.

Cheers.

Thanks Doorman for the link to Exal's videos, fascinating.... it looks like the aerosol 'bottles' are punched out as a parallel cylinder and then rolled to form the smaller neck, I think.

it seems an awkward way to manufacture them and looking at an empty bottle in front of me I just can't see any stress lines or marks from the process...

I'm guessing this would make them expensive to manufacture, maybe?

Any other links or even guesses from others are welcome!!!

Wow, fantastic high speed process. I thought it must be compound dies/mandrills, but it happens so fast I couldn't tell.

Just to think it all started with cupped hands to bring water to your mouth, evolved through clam shells, wooden bowls etc.

There is no way you could hold that much beer in your cupped hands.

It's a cold form process.

One way I've know punches a little round puck into a die the shape of the bottom of the can.. the multi ton force instantly causes the puck to extrude itself more than a dozen times it's original length while forming the body length and width of the can.

The long can has it's neck formed by a "wagon wheel" of 20 or so progressively smaller neck shaped dies that spin and push down onto the can at a blazing speed.. and with lots of cooling water. the can is then spun to trim the excess off of the neck and the lip is rolled and or pressed on.

Interesting JE.... That's basically the only way I could envisage it being made. But I stopped there because I thought the process to reduce the cylinder down to its neck size would cause all sorts of problems as well as showing up stress or machining marks on the finished bottle...

Maybe it is done like this and I'm wrong.... Very interesting though...

Over here, there is a TV program called "How do they make it". One episode showed how aluminum water bottles are drawn and necked. The material was much thicker than that in a beer can, but the manufactory may be the same. try to goggle "how it's made" or "How do they do it".

Budweiser is of course very influential in the industry, but for the nuts and bolts you have to go up stream.

As is typical most times when one material is replacing a competing material, the innovation usually comes from cooperation of the finished good manufacturer - in this case, the bottle supplier, and the material supplier. The material supplier stands to gain a great deal from "flipping" an industry from one material to another and has a lot of the technical know-how to help develop the processes to make the finished goods, even if they don't have the knack for productionizing it (nor would they want to, since they would then be competing with potential customers). This is true everywhere from the world of paints (where, for instance, a chemical company might make urethane to sell to a paint manufacturer, and pay a great deal for research that would find a way for their material to be formulated to be superior to, say, epoxy - then ultimately, they might pass that technology on to another company in exchange for exclusivity of raw material supply, or... they want to maximize the amount of urethane in use at the expense of other materials, so they can afford to be very "generous" with their know-how. This model applies in the world of aluminum, steel, ...

There's a few articles I pulled up from Alcoa's archives that might be of interest. It looks like Pittsburgh Brewing (as in Iron City) gets credit for the first aluminum beer bottle... apologies if any links do not work - I'm at Alcoa so some sites may only work for those on the inside.

Jump to page 65 of this article:

http://search.richpaper.com/schofieldmedia/v2/pastissue.asp?page=1&koda=Schofield/Manufacturing%20Today/2009/0707/

http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/news/news_detail.asp?pageID=20081001005837en&newsYear=2008

http://my.alcoa.com/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_609627_419833_0_0_18/xx_marks_the_spot_on_dos_equis__new_aluminum_bottle_by_ccl_container__marketwire_.html

http://my.alcoa.com/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_609627_450325_0_0_18/16_mile_brewing_opts_for_aluminum_over_glass__pr_newswire_.html